Despite Findings, Bush Sees Iraq Tie to Al Qaeda
WASHINGTON — President Bush insisted Thursday that Saddam Hussein had "terrorist connections" to Al Qaeda -- despite a finding by the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks that there was no credible evidence of cooperation between the ousted Iraqi dictator and the global terrorist network.
In a television interview later in the day, Vice President Dick Cheney challenged the commission's finding more strongly, arguing that the evidence of Hussein's ties to Al Qaeda and other terrorists "is overwhelming." Cheney criticized what he called "outrageous" and "irresponsible" media reports for distorting the issue.
The comments marked the latest in a series of disputes between the White House and the bipartisan panel. The Bush administration has repeatedly sparred with commission members over their requests for documents and interviews with key officials and an extension of the panel's deadline for completing its report, now scheduled for release July 26.
The White House made Hussein's alleged terrorist ties a key part of its argument that deposing the Iraqi leader was necessary to protect the United States from future attacks.
Speaking to reporters after a Cabinet meeting Thursday, Bush argued that "numerous contacts" over the years between members of the former Baghdad regime and followers of Al Qaeda proved that a "relationship" existed between Hussein and Osama bin Laden.
"The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and Al Qaeda [is] because there was a relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda," Bush said.
"Now, he was a threat because he had terrorist connections, not only Al Qaeda connections, but other connections to terrorist organizations," Bush added.
Bush and his aides cited a 1996 meeting in Sudan between Iraqi intelligence officers and Bin Laden. They also cited Baghdad's offer of safe haven to Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal and members of the anti-Israeli Islamic Jihad, as well as Hussein's reported $25,000 payments to the families of Arab suicide bombers in Israel.
They also cited Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Palestinian born in Jordan who runs the Al Tawhid terror network and has claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in Iraq and elsewhere. Zarqawi was based in a Kurdish-controlled area of northern Iraq before the war. But his organization is said now to be based in Baghdad and appears to have grown substantially in size and lethal capability since the invasion.
